Not every Bloomfield Hills citizen sees 20/20 on the recall petition. 

  “[People in the township] have said that the recall is very embarrassing for the township and the school district,” says Dan McClorey, a Bloomfield 20/20 member who filed recall petitions against the seven Bloomfield Hills School Board members along with fellow 20/20 member Chris Fellin.  “It’s more embarrassing for somebody to have your vote and throw it out the window.  And it would be even more embarrassing to sit idly by and watch those people get away with it.  That’s why [I] filed a recall.”

   On June 29 and July 14, the Oakland County Election Commission approved the language on these recall petitions.  According to the petitions themselves, the board members failed to act in the best interest of both the students and the taxpaying residents when they went against the November 2010 voter majority to approve a 73 million dollar bond. 

  According to McClorey, now that the recall petitions are in circulation around the community, Bloomfield 20/20, a grassroot organization involved in promoting the recall, needs to collect 5,266 signatures by mid-October before they can move on to the next stage of the process. 

  McClorey says that before an election can be held to elect a new school board, the Oakland County Election Commission must first verify each signature on the petition.  Even if an election is held, the board members could be re-elected to their current seats in office. 

  “The problem that this particular group has with the board is not sufficient evidence for recall,” says Secretary of the Bloomfield Hills School Board, Kate Pettersen.  “Recall should be reserved for crime, not a disagreement with a decision [the School Board] makes.”

  Another opposing force to the recall is One Bloomfield United—a grassroot organization that, according to prominent member Brandon Kaufman, is involved in promoting positive conversations and positive solutions. 

   Kaufman says, “What is sad to me is the fact that we are spending energy either initiating the recall or defending the recall instead of spending energy coming up with solutions that everyone in the community can agree with.”

  “You must first seek to understand, before you can be understood,” continues Kaufman.  “I think Bloomfield 20/20 is trying to recall without sitting down, working together with the community, and working out a solution.”

   “One of the best ways to improve learning is to shorten the feedback cycle,” Glass explains.  “Let’s say you’re learning a science concept.  To have you in the classroom, learning it a first time, and doing a few problems and then have you go home and work on some more is one way to do it.   Another way is to watch a tutorial online and use other resources online and then come into class and do something with it.  The teacher can shorten that feedback cycle so the next day you’re not doing a lot of un-learning.  You’re being checked right then and there the next day and doing something meaningful with it.  That’s where the teacher’s value is greatest.  It’s flip flopping what we do at home and in the classroom.  I think that’s what we’re going to see because information is exploding.”   

 Ultimately, Flanagan’s hope is that students will not be only to receive high school, but real college credit as well, not just from AP testing.

  Flanagan rhetorically questions, “Wouldn’t it be nice that when you get out after 12 years, you have at least one year towards college in addition to what might be AP?”

  Glass adds, “I think we do a really good job of (duel enrollment).  Students can go really far into a college world through duel enrollment with us. 

  Regardless of the current educational situation, Flanagan wants to make clear is that no one is to blame, especially teachers.

  He concludes, “Teachers have been bashed and it’s unfair.  There’s people who don’t know what they’re saying and they’re upset with the system and they blame teachers. And its really not teachers.  It’s the system’s issues that are broken, particularly in poor districts that have other challenges.  If we want good teachers to keep coming to the profession, they can’t feel like they’re being beat up in the paper or by legislators.  I’m trying to show we’re lucky to have the people we do in the classroom.